ESPN Sunday Night Schedule released...and the Reds are not featured.

[Matt700wlw]

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-re...ball-schedule/

March 31 Texas Rangers at Houston Astros
April 7 Los Angeles Angels at Texas Rangers *
April 14 Baltimore Orioles at New York Yankees
April 21 St. Louis Cardinals at Philadelphia Phillies
April 28 Atlanta Braves at Detroit Tigers
May 5 Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants
May 12 Los Angeles Angels at Chicago White Sox
May 19 Detroit Tigers at Texas Rangers
May 26 Atlanta Braves at New York Mets
July 14 St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs
July 21 New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

[UKFlounder]

At least they managed to find a way to get the New York and Los Angeles teams some exposure. I was worried they may forget about those markets...

[LoganBuck]

In fairness, the Reds only have three series that would appeal to a national audience in those weekends. My guess is that the June 9th game against the Cardinals will be selected.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Good! I'd rather watch the game Sunday afternoon and not lose sleep before heading to another week of work.

[WildcatFan]

I usually take advantage of the Family 4-Pack Sundays, and it makes for a rough Monday morning when the game starts at 8. Would have liked for them to get a Reds road game on there, though. No Washington, either, which is a strange choice.

[bucksfan2]

Give me afternoon or late afternoon Sunday baseball and I am happy.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

Give me afternoon or late afternoon Sunday baseball and I am happy.

Play in the morning, at lunch, at four and at eight... I can sleep when I'm dead

[cumberlandreds]

Originally Posted by WildcatFan

I usually take advantage of the Family 4-Pack Sundays, and it makes for a rough Monday morning when the game starts at 8. Would have liked for them to get a Reds road game on there, though. No Washington, either, which is a strange choice.

The NL teams with the best records last season and they can't make the first cut of Sunday night baseball. They could have scheduled their Sunday game in DC April 28th and got them both in one fell swoop. But like a few others have said I would just as soon watch them in the afternoon than on a Sunday night anyway.

[WildcatFan]

Originally Posted by cumberlandreds

The NL teams with the best records last season and they can't make the first cut of Sunday night baseball. They could have scheduled their Sunday game in DC April 28th and got them both in one fell swoop. But like a few others have said I would just as soon watch them in the afternoon than on a Sunday night anyway.

That would have been PERFECT. I like afternoon games, as well, but there is something about playing Sunday nights that makes it feel like more of an event. I hate ESPN and everything it stands for, but doggone, they've brainwashed me enough to make me believe they do spectacle as well as anyone.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Play in the morning, at lunch, at four and at eight... I can sleep when I'm dead

"I never sleep 'cause sleep is the cousin of death."

[MikeThierry]

I can understand the frustration here but ESPN is basing it's programming off of potential viewership and ratings. One could question the first game of the year but aside from that, all of those games are in markets where national viewership has traditionally been rated high or those markets are huge markets. I know that the Reds draw great local support from their TV ratings but something like the Cubs vs. Cardinals has in the past drawn well on a national level. Yankees vs. Red Sox might seem overplayed but it gets the ratings. I wish that they would do something like the NFL does where every team is presented in a Thursday night prime time game each season. In that scenario, it would be more fair. This is going to sound extremely pompous so forgive me before hand but realistically, the Reds will not get the kind of national viewership that you or I believe they should get unless they make it to the World Series. That always tends to move the national needle and eye on a team.

[membengal]

Awesome, glad to know the Cards fan is good with the schedule. Cool.

[RedsManRick]

If only this were about them not being featured on Saturday Fox baseball.

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by MikeThierry

I can understand the frustration here but ESPN is basing it's programming off of potential viewership and ratings. One could question the first game of the year but aside from that, all of those games are in markets where national viewership has traditionally been rated high or those markets are huge markets. I know that the Reds draw great local support from their TV ratings but something like the Cubs vs. Cardinals has in the past drawn well on a national level. Yankees vs. Red Sox might seem overplayed but it gets the ratings. I wish that they would do something like the NFL does where every team is presented in a Thursday night prime time game each season. In that scenario, it would be more fair. This is going to sound extremely pompous so forgive me before hand but realistically, the Reds will not get the kind of national viewership that you or I believe they should get unless they make it to the World Series. That always tends to move the national needle and eye on a team.

This is one of the reasons why baseball has taken a back seat to football in many parts of the country. The NFL has done a great job of creating a structure where star talent is spread throughout the league and ensuring that the best teams get primetime exposure regardless of market size. By allowing their national broadcast partners to punt the smaller markets in favor of short-term ratings wins by featuring the big market teams, MLB is pretty much telling large sections of the country that they're not important. If they had a better long-term strategy to build up the quality of teams across the league and ensure that more teams got national exposure, maybe baseball would still be the National Pastime.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

This is one of the reasons why baseball has taken a back seat to football in many parts of the country. The NFL has done a great job of creating a structure where star talent is spread throughout the league and ensuring that the best teams get primetime exposure regardless of market size. By allowing their national broadcast partners to punt the smaller markets in favor of short-term ratings wins by featuring the big market teams, MLB is pretty much telling large sections of the country that they're not important. If they had a better long-term strategy to build up the quality of teams across the league and ensure that more teams got national exposure, maybe baseball would still be the National Pastime.

The Pirates haven't been on in 12 years , but the NFL has been kicking MLB butts on TV since the 70's, no amount of Pirates or Reds games on Sunday is going to change that, football is a perfect TV sport played when the weather is bad.

Baseball does just fine without worrying about football and all the games are on anyway, whether ESPN deems them worthy or not.